Savory Lamb Wraps
Local pastured lamb, green onions, vine-ripened tomatoes, garlic, fresh oregano, fresh mint, Greek yogurt, sea salt, cracked pepper.
Sauté freshly-ground lamb in a small amount of ghee, coconut or olive oil until browned. Add slivered green onions, oregano, garlic, salt and pepper, stirring to combine.
Spread yoghurt on the inside of pita or other flat bread and spoon lamb filling over the top. Dress with fresh chopped tomatoes and a squeeze of fresh lemon garnish with fresh mint.
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Caramelized Leeks, Carrots & Wild Mushrooms in an Oregano Vermouth Cream Sauce
Caramelized purple heirloom carrots, leeks, wild mushrooms and garlic over a fresh oregano vermouth cream sauce with red pepper flakes, cracked peppercorns and finishing salt. Topped with Grana Padano cheese.
This one’s going on the menu..
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Bring chicken stock and dry white vermouth to a boil then add a variety of clean, dried wild mushrooms such as morel and chanterelle. Turn off heat and allow mushrooms to reconstitute for about 20 minutes. Remove mushrooms, squeeze dry and set aside.
Return chicken stock/mushroom liquor to a gentle boil and reduce in half by volume. Whisk in fresh cream and chopped fresh oregano and continue to simmer gently until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 20 minutes. Adjust seasoning with S&P.
Meanwhile, heat olive oil over medium heat in a heavy skillet. Add sliced carrots and cook until they begin to brown. Add pastured butter and leeks and cook until caramelized, about 20 minutes. Add mushrooms and chopped garlic and cook another 5 minutes. Stir in a handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley and red pepper flakes and toss to combine.
Spoon or ladle cream sauce onto a dinner plate then mound vegetables on top. Season with finishing salt, cracked peppercorns and shaved cheese.
This post is part of the Nourishing Gourmet’s Pennywise Platter Carnival
Heirloom Tomato Basil Sauce
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Is there anything better (or easier) than tomato sauce made from the freshest ingredients? Not only delicious, fresh cooked tomatoes are are loaded with lycopene and vitamins A and C.
Start by peeling and seeding the tomatoes; bring a pot of filtered water to a boil, then turn it off and carefully blanch the tomatoes until the skins peel away, about 10-20 seconds. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the tomatoes into a bowl and allow to cool slightly.
Cut tomatoes in half and gently squeeze out the seeds. Diced the tomatoes and set aside. The skins and seeds can be saved for the stockpot.
Dice onions and sauté in olive oil until soft, about 5 minutes. Moisten the onions with a few drops of balsamic vinegar and/or an ounce or 2 of red wine.
Add garlic and tomatoes and cook, stirring often, until most of the moisture has evaporated, about 20-30 minutes.
Add chopped fresh basil and oregano and season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.
Use immediately, or allow to cool to room temperature before transferring to refrigerator or freezer.
Click on the closeup of the basil in the picture below and see if you can spot the perfectly camouflaged critter hiding in the leaves..
This post is part of Food Renegade’s Fight Back Fridays
Trecce dell’orto with Field Greens and Seasonal Vegetables
Trecce dell’orto (braids of the garden) is an Italian semolina colored by and flavored with spinach, carrots, basil and beets. I’m having this as a warm dinner salad with sautéed squash, cippoline onions, garlic, tomatoes, saffron and fresh herbs..
Wash, dry and refrigerate fresh field greens an hour or so before assembly.
Cook trecce del’orto until just under done. Drain (don’t rinse), dress with a little olive oil and set aside to cool slightly.
Heat a heavy skillet over medium heat for 10-15 minutes – we will want to cook the vegetables quickly so as to maintain their flavor and nutritional value.
While the pan is heating, prepare the rest of the ingredients – squash, onions, garlic, tomatoes, bell pepper, porcini mushrooms, herbs and spices.
Sauté mustard seeds and red pepper flakes in olive oil, stirring continuously until they begin to release their oils, about 2 minutes.
Add all the vegetables and sauté until slightly brown around the edges. Add the garlic and herbs and cook another minute. Deglaze with a little vermouth, then add saffron, capers and S&P to taste.
Stir in the reserved pasta and a dollop of fresh cream, stir and remove from heat.
To serve, mound chilled greens on a dinner plate and dress with aged balsamic vinegar. Top with warm pasta and vegetables and dress with shaved manchego cheese.
This post is part of Food Renegade’s Fight Back Fridays
Custom Pizza
Authentic Neapolitan pizzas are baked in a 905° stone oven with an oak-wood fire. My tiny apartment kitchen isn’t equipped with one of those, so we’re just going to make do with good ingredients and a couple of tricks.
Wheat flour crust, San Marzano tomatoes, mozzarella, fresh pork sausage, red onions, black garlic, fresh basil and oregano, olive oil, black sea salt and seasonings.
To make the sauce, mince black garlic with black sea salt and sauté in olive oil until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, breaking them up with the back of a wooden spoon. Cook slowly until most of the water has evaporated, about 10 minutes. Add fresh oregano and roasted red bell pepper. The black garlic and salt will turn the sauce a deep mahogany color, but you can use regular garlic and coarse salt if you prefer. In either case, add a pinch of oak wood-smoked black pepper to the sauce and set aside.
Cook fresh pork sausage with seasonings (rosemary, fennel, red pepper) until all the fat has rendered. Drain and set aside.
Slice the cheese and tear the basil. Set both aside.
Place a large cast iron skillet (as big as the pizza crust) upside down on the middle rack of your oven and heat both to 500 degrees. You can use a pizza stone if you don’t have a large skillet, but the cast iron is better for this.
You need to work very quickly at this point, so be sure that you have everything in place.
Turn on the exhaust fan and remove the skillet from the oven and set (still upside down) on a fire proof surface (I used a Dutch oven as a platform). Dust lightly with corn meal, then place pizza crust directly on the bottom (not the inside) of the skillet.
Go fan the now-screaming smoke detector(s).
Mist the crust with olive oil.
Spoon the sauce onto the middle of the crust, then use a swirling motion to spread it to within a 1/2 inch or so of the edge.
Scatter crumbled sausage and mozzarella slices here and there. Top with torn basil.
Place pizza and still hot skillet back into the 500 degree oven and watch it closely- mine only took about 5 minutes.
Carefully remove from oven and slide pizza onto a cutting board. Dress with a few pieces of reserved tomatoes.
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